With Lena keeping an eye on the larger criminal organizations, making sure that none of them tried to do something incredibly stupid, the days managed to pass rather peacefully. We created as many weapons as we could to prepare for the incoming invasion, and spread our defensive forces out across our inhabited worlds. Gods and Fallen Gods alike were stationed at every colonized star system, and even regular citizens could feel the increased tension from the distribution of forces.
However, there was one thing left to do before the invasion, and that was the annual meeting. This meeting was going to start in just over an hour, and we would have a week to get as many points or other rewards as we could.
Given Lena’s performance since joining Olympus, I believed that she was trustworthy to accompany us to this meeting. But first, I needed to have a talk with her. Thus, I looked up at the ceiling, calling out to the digital intelligence in charge of communication. “Hermes, can you let Lena know that I would like to speak with her?”
“Of course, Keeper.” Hermes responded, before going silent. Roughly a minute later, there was a knock on my office door.
“You wanted to see me, boss?” Lena asked, poking her head in. She blinked in surprise at my serious expression, and I gestured for her to come in and take a seat. “My clone and I didn’t mess up anything big, did we?”
I shook my head, offering a small smile. “Not that I am aware of. But there are some things that we need to talk about, and not a lot of time to talk. So please, take a seat.”
Lena looked confused, but quickly ran over to sit across from me, nodding her head.
“How much do you know about Keepers, Lena?” I asked, wanting to develop a baseline for the conversation, that way I knew what I needed to fill in or correct.
Lena thought about that for a moment, and I could tell that she was taking this seriously, which I appreciated. “According to the information I have access to, a Keeper is born together with the void, but likely resides within a separate realm for the majority of their existence. Additionally, time within this separate realm does not always move at the same pace as time in the mortal world.”
“Next, the Keeper possesses the ultimate power of creation, but this power must abide by a set of rules. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about, and there would be no need for you to have Chelsea and the others researching world creation on their own. Following this logic, there is a system in place for Keepers, one that exists above the normal mortal system.”
“Through this system, you are able to exert your power to execute a vast, yet limited number of options. These options allow you to interact with the world, such as altering the world laws, updating the system we live under, or creating entirely new worlds or gods.”
“Next, there is a hierarchy among the gods that you have created, with Terra being in a special position. Of all of the members of the Greater Pantheon, she is the only one that can’t directly inhabit her mortal vessel. This can be seen from how they act, showing that it is not a matter of choice on her part. Given that I cannot see you placing those restrictions on her yourself, these restrictions must come from the system, which has deemed her to be in a position where it would disrupt the balance of the world if she had direct control.”
“History has proven that there exist other Keepers, who typically have a hostile relationship with each other. However, this is not always the case, as proven by the existence of the memetic sensor that was received. That technology was of a completely different field of thought from how we invent, so it is unlikely to have come from this world.”
“These other Keepers appear to invade randomly, but using the previously gathered information, it can be assumed that there is actually a set schedule for their invasions. However, this set schedule follows the timeline of your separate dimension, so it gives the appearance of being random to the mortal world.”
“Finally, it is within the Keeper’s power to elevate the status of a mortal, allowing them to access your separate dimension through one of two methods. The first method, as was shown with Leowynn and to a lesser extent Giles, allows you to turn them into a fully fledged deity of the Greater Pantheon or resident of your other dimension. The second method, which you have used on Tsubaki, Lifre, and Dana, allows them to seamlessly travel between dimensions, without elevating their mortal status itself.”
I couldn’t help but blink as I looked at Lena, my eyes widening. I had assumed that she had gathered a fair amount of information, but at this point, there was almost nothing left for me to explain myself. “You came to all of those conclusions on your own?”
Lena gave a broad grin at that. “Some of that stuff is just common knowledge. There are also a lot of speculations, like whether you were born with your knowledge, or if you inherited it from a previous Keeper. Like, you might have gotten your knowledge of how to use your abilities from your system or other Keepers, or because you met the Keeper of a previously destroyed world. This would follow with the claim that your death marks the end of creation, because it erases the void itself and causes a new Keeper to be chosen.”
“As for the stuff with my senior, that was easy to figure out. She is way too harsh on herself with her training, so there is no way that she wouldn’t be up to date with the latest techniques used by various professions. If she was like Leowynn, and could freely interact with the world from the other dimension, then there would be no reason for her not to know all of that stuff. The only logic that works is that she had no time to train while she was gone, and no ability to interact with the world. Also, when I transformed into her, I had the feeling that she had been a Keeper at some point in the past.”
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“You even managed to figure all of that out…” I let out a low sigh, shaking my head. “Well… this will make a lot of things easier. You are spot-on with almost all of your assumptions. Including the fact that I met the previous Keeper. Well… after a fashion.”
Lena’s eyes widened at that. “You killed him, right? But you totally don’t seem the type. Was he some kind of crazed murderer or something, and you were acting as the hero of justice?”
I gave a bitter chuckle, resting my face against my hand. “I was a delivery driver, overworked and underpaid, and he was a lazy slob that didn’t look both ways when crossing the street.”
Lena paused, blinking slowly. “Wait, really? That’s the big reveal? Don’t you want to embellish the story a bit? If you do, I’ll give you some time to come up with something and try again, I don’t mind.”
“No, that’s really how it went. The last Keeper was a coward, who was so scared of invasions from other Keepers that he forcibly halted the world’s progress, living a leisurely life without ever once revealing himself to the masses. Any three year old child in my world would be stronger than him.”
“That’s… harsh.” Lena muttered, before focusing on me again. “So, what is this about? Given the context, you must be considering elevating me like my senior, right?”
I nodded slightly. “That’s right. But first, I wanted to know how much more I needed to explain, so I’ll just fill in the gaps of your understanding. The power that I exert through the system is referred to as points, which can be earned in four ways. The first is passive income, which I earn by allowing my worlds to develop new technologies and cultural advancement. This is a small, yet constant source of points that can be used to upgrade the world.”
“The second method is through achievements. If either myself or my world create a significant achievement in the eyes of the system, I am awarded a small number of points, as well as potentially an additional reward. One of these rewards is the method to ‘elevate’ people, as you called it.”
“The third method is through invasions, either defending or attacking. If we succeed in a defense, I earn points based on the number of enemies the opponent sends, as well as their strength. If we succeed in attacking, and kill the enemy Keeper, I inherit all of their worlds, and can refund them for their point value in the system.”
“The method of invasions is good for lump sums of points, but naturally comes with the associated dangers. If the enemy kills me, the other Keeper inherits all of my worlds, and may twist them into horrid abominations, or delete them outright.”
“The final method is good for lump sums, and has much less danger, but is less commonly available to me. This is through a regular event hosted by the system, and available to all Keepers. We call it our annual meeting, because it happens once every year, according to the system clock. In this meeting, there are various activities for the Keepers to participate in that can award them points, and they are free to bring people from their own worlds.”
I offered a small smile, letting out a long breath. “This is where Tsubaki became a Keeper, as you mentioned. She participated in one activity that allowed her to experience life as a Keeper, with Dana as her assistant, equivalent to what Terra is for me.”
“The next annual meeting is starting in less than an hour now. Given your performance, I believed that you were trustworthy to take with me to the meeting.”
Lena’s eyes widened, clearly having not expected me to ask her to join me. “Wait… wait wait wait. You mean that you revealed all of this to me, and not only are you not expecting me to try to kill you to become the Keeper myself, but you are inviting me to a highly sensitive meeting where I could either help you or become a disruptive force? Are you insane? Like, seriously, is there something wrong with your head?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I don’t believe that you would try to take advantage of that. And if you did attack me, Terra is probably watching right now and has the ability to pull me out of the world before a fatal blow is landed. She probably would have pulled me out the instant that you decided to attack.”
Got that right… Terra’s voice spoke up in the back of my mind.
Lena hesitated, but nodded her head. “Got it. So, what do you want me to do in this meeting? Am I just helping you collect points, or do you want me to gather information on other Keepers?”
I smiled slightly, trying to dispel her serious demeanor. “Your first priority should be collecting points. And… Did I mention that the vast majority of the activities at this event take the form of games? You won’t be able to use your enhanced powers, but your personal judgment and skill will remain.”
Lena’s eyes widened again. “Wait, you want me to go to this meeting to… play games? Am I being pranked right now? Because if so, this is a good one.”
“I’m being serious, Lena.” I told her, reaching across the desk to lightly flick her forehead, causing her to hold her head with an aggrieved look. “There are also special rewards that can be earned in these games, tickets that allow a Keeper to either force an attack on someone, or cancel an attack coming their way. Additionally… as soon as we return from this meeting, the next invasion will begin.”
Lena’s eyes immediately became serious. “I understand, sir. In that case, would you allow me to try to gather information on the forces that the other Keeper is bringing in? I’ll need any identifying information that you can provide me.”
“The only thing that I know is their title, which is DarkestNight. For reference, mine is EarthForceOne. Gathering information on DarkestNight won’t be easy, since we don’t know what they look like or anything like that. That’s why I said that your first priority is to play those games to earn points.”
Lena slowly nodded her head, but maintained a pensive expression. “I understand, sir. I’ll do my best to help you in this upcoming meeting.”
With that, I began to explain to Lena how the meeting area worked, and the kinds of things that she could expect to find there.